For many centuries the “magic” of these mirrors left scientists and collectors perplexed, who catalogued the phenomenon as an “impossible optical illusion” and therefore “magical.”Īccording to UNESCO, around 1,200 years ago, the secret was revealed in a Chinese text called Record of the ancient mirrors. While the metal on the front face is completely solid, the image reflected gives the impression that it should be transparent in some way. Nobody, however, could ascertain what produced the ghostly and beautiful projection of light. There effects were so wonderful that they hypnotized the Royal Society -which is to say a lot. The English called them “diaphanous mirrors” and for the first time they made technical observations regarding their construction. In total, there are only four reported magical mirrors to be brought from China to Europe, but in 1878, two engineering professors presented the Royal Society of London with various models they had brought from Japan. This last one was presented as an irresistible mystery to the French Academy of Sciences in 1844––Nobody had seen anything similar, and despite their attempts to register its behavior, they could never fully understand it. Upon his return from China, he brought with him several mirrors, one of which was magical. The first magical mirror that appeared in Europe was property of the Director of the Paris Observatory. ![]() Of these there are many around the world, probably because in ancient Japan mirrors were especially adored as rare and mysterious items, considered as a “source of honesty” because they reflect “everything that’s good and bad, the true and the false…without failure.” In fact, one of the most important imperial treasures of Japan is the sacred mirror called Yata-no-Kagami. But the Japanese also have their magic mirrors which, although slightly different in their manufacturing, produce the same spectrums of light, and their designs are certainly the most beautiful. So rare, in fact, that there is not one to be found in Paris, the city which, upon their discovery, was more than enchanted by them. The Chinese models, however, are extremely rare. Thus, of the luminous or speculative effects that we know of the world, this is certainly one of the most unexpected… of the most captivating. The “magical” quality for which they are famous consists of the fact that when strong light, such as a sunbeam, hits the front side and is reflected on a white wall, the image modeled on the back of the mirror appears as a pattern of white lines on the wall. On the reverse surface there is a modeled drawing in low relief that can be a landscape with trees, water, birds or animals, an inscription or perhaps a figure of Buddha. Magic mirrors, literally “light transmission mirrors,” are made of cast bronze and are generally circular, about 15 to 20 centimeters in diameter, with a polished surface, or front side, that produces quite a faithful reflection of the objects in front of them. Few have seen one or even heard of one largely because in the West there are very few models left and because, after centuries of trying to understand their mechanism, science was able to reproduce it… And as we know, when a mystery is deciphered, infatuation is the first to suffer. What we do know is that their “magical” quality was a completely accidental effect and just shy of wonderful. Consensus says that they appeared for the first time in China around the 2nd Century BC, and occurred in large quantities during the entire period of the Han dynasty (206 BC-24 AC). When using a search engine such as Google, Bing or Yahoo check the safe search settings where you can exclude adult content sites from your search results Īsk your internet service provider if they offer additional filters īe responsible, know what your children are doing online.Many are the historical variations on the origin of these magic mirrors. Use family filters of your operating systems and/or browsers Other steps you can take to protect your children are: ![]() More information about the RTA Label and compatible services can be found here. Parental tools that are compatible with the RTA label will block access to this site. We use the "Restricted To Adults" (RTA) website label to better enable parental filtering. Protect your children from adult content and block access to this site by using parental controls. ![]() PARENTS, PLEASE BE ADVISED: If you are a parent, it is your responsibility to keep any age-restricted content from being displayed to your children or wards. Furthermore, you represent and warrant that you will not allow any minor access to this site or services. This website should only be accessed if you are at least 18 years old or of legal age to view such material in your local jurisdiction, whichever is greater. You are about to enter a website that contains explicit material (pornography).
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